Charmed 1. Blowing in the Wind

Note #1: I am working on a sequel for "Redemption", but writing in English is a **_veeeeeeeery_** slow process for me. That's why I'm also translating some of my old stories from Portuguese to English. You know, just to make sure you don't forget me. But I promise the story will be up somewhere in the near future. Please be patient: I've already got a couple of chapters ready.

Note #2: This story doesn't quite fit in the current season because Cole is still a demon, but Paige has already learned how to orb from one place to another, which only happened on "The Three Faces of Phoebe", way past "Black as Cole". Let's just pretend nobody noticed the incongruence.

Scenery: Cole is still a demon (Belthazor, not the Source!) and he hasn't proposed to Phoebe yet, and Paige lives in the manor with her sisters and has partial control over her powers (she can heal people without Leo's help and orb from one place to another, but she still orbs involuntarily sometimes).

I don't own anyone but David (Paige's boyfriend) and Engres (a warlock that's gonna show up later). But I don't really care about them: I'd gladly trade both for Cole or Leo.

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"I for one think it's cool." says Phoebe.

"I definitely could use a power like this." says Piper, coming from the kitchen with a bowl full of popcorn.

"Why?" says Leo, surprised. "You've got me. I can orb you anywhere you want to go."

"I know, honey." says Piper, sitting beside her husband on the couch and cuddling with him. "But that'd be like having my own car, instead of depending on you to give me a ride."

"That's a car", says Paige, opening a Light Coke, "I could live without. For a start, I can't give David a ride."

"Well, technically..." says Cole, pulling Phoebe to his lap.

"Sure, if I wanna give him a heart attack." says Paige, sourly.

"Paige, you know that you'll eventually have to tell him, don't you?" says Phoebe.

The five of them are waiting for Paige's boyfriend to arrive so that they can watch a video. It's Friday night, but Piper set things up at P3 so that she could enjoy a quiet evening at home. After vanquishing a particularly nagging warlock that had been giving them trouble for about two weeks, she, Leo, Paige, Phoebe and Cole are more than glad to have a break. David wasn't hard to convince, either: he's very fond of his girlfriend's family, even though he finds a little odd that five grown ups, including a married couple, still live together under the same roof.

"Besides," says Paige, purposefully ignoring Phoebe's question, "it's so hard to control! I could get scared and orb in public!"

"It can't be worse than blowing things up at a public office..." says Piper, grimacing as she recalls the day she received her new power.

"Oh, please!" says Cole. "At least your powers aren't rooted in Evil. Every time I use mine is like saying: Vanquish me, I'm a demon."

"You think this is bad?" says Leo. "How would you like depending on other people to protect your own wife?"

"I can't believe you guys!" says Phoebe. "It took me two years to get one lousy active power, and look at you, whining about having several of them."

Soon they're speaking all at the same time, each one complaining about their own situation. Then the doorbell rings, and Paige stands up to open the door for David. Before she leaves the room, she turns to the others and says, waving her finger at them:

"All right, the moment I open that door I want everybody acting like normal people."

As she walks to the front door, the others exchange amused looks, but say nothing. Then Cole turns to Piper and asks:

"By the way, which movie did you rent?"

"Strangers on A Train."

"Hitchcock! Cool." says David, holding hands with Paige as they walk in. "I'm glad to know that not everyone in this family believe that 'the bloodier, the better'."

"Hey!" says Paige with mock indignation, shoving his arm.

Leo gets up and goes get David a beer, while Piper takes the bowl that's on the table beside her and offers:

"Popcorn?"

David takes a handful of popcorn from the bowl and sits on the arm of the armchair Paige's in, with his arm around her shoulders.

As Leo is coming back from the kitchen with two beer cans, a strong wind starts to blow inside the room, even though all the windows are closed. Paige, Phoebe, Cole, Piper and Leo exchange alarmed looks and look nervously around, trying to identify the obviously unnatural source of the wind. It seems to carry some kind of colorful dust: iridescent colors twist around the room. Paige grabs David's hand, and he squeezes her hand, watching the swirling colors with wide-opened eyes. She's feeling oddly dizzy and nauseated. The others seem to be feeling the same way; David, in particular, looks like he's about to throw up, or pass out... or both.

When the wind finally stops to blow, they don't move, not only because they're still fighting this strange nausea, but also because none of them knows what has just happened... and if it's over.

"Is everyone okay?" says Leo, hesitantly, still standing at the doorway.

"I am... I guess." says Paige.

"Me too..." says Piper.

"I think," says Phoebe, carefully standing up, "that I'll go upstairs to make sure, uh... -- she eyes her sisters, clearly referring to the Book of Shadows -- "everything's fine."

As soon as she finishes the sentence, though, she orbs out.

"Phoebe?" says Cole, astonished.

Before anyone else can say a word, they hear Phoebe scream upstairs.

"She's in the attic!" says Piper, and immediately shimmers out.

"Piper!" says Leo, white as paper.

Then they hear Piper scream too, and Phoebe screams again in response.

Cole and Leo jump to their feet and dart upstairs. Paige grabs David's hand and says:

"Let's go!"

She follows Leo and Cole, pulling a very bewildered David behind her.


	2. Let the Games Begin

When they get to the attic, Cole and Leo are relieved to find Phoebe and Piper pretty scared but otherwise safe and sound. Both girls are standing beside the Book of Shadows, holding each other. The moment they see Cole and Leo, they call out their names:

"Leo!"

"Cole!"

Cole runs towards Phoebe and takes her in his arms, and Leo does the same to Piper.

"Everything's okay now, baby." says Cole, holding Phoebe tight.

"Don't be afraid, honey." says Leo, stroking Piper's hair and kissing her forehead.

Then they notice Paige and David standing at the doorway. David looks from Piper to Phoebe with great dread.

"What the hell was that?" he asks, in a weak voice.

"I'm not sure I wanna hear the answer to this question..." mutters Paige, glaring at Phoebe. "Wait here, Dave." she adds, entering the attic and walking straight to Phoebe.

"Of all the times you could have chosen to show us your new active power..." she says, between clenched teeth.

"Now wait a minute, Paige..." -- Cole puts his hand on Paige's shoulder, annoyed, intending to push her away from Phoebe, and is overwhelmed by a vision of Paige raising her hands and causing an explosion.

Cole yelps, lets go off her shoulder and grabs her wrist, swirling her around just in time: a coat hanger is blown to bits, startling everyone.

"Hands behind, everyone!" commands Leo, setting the example. When the others hesitate, he insists: "NOW!"

When everybody has their hands safely behind their backs, he takes a deep breath and says, slowly:

"Fine. Now, everyone is going back downstairs... slowly... to the kitchen. Hands behind your backs... no talking... just walking downstairs."

Cole opens his mouth to object, but what Leo says next is enough to convince him:

"I have a hunch about what's going on here and, if I'm right, it means someone in this room has the power to throw energy balls. And can't control it."

They all carefully start to walk downstairs. Leo is the last one to leave the attic, and he takes the Book of Shadows with him.

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In the kitchen, they are all gathered around the table, with the Book of Shadows resting on a chair and a cup of chamomile tea in front of each one.

Piper and Phoebe were shaking so badly after their "trip" to the attic, that Cole had to make the tea himself. As for David, he hasn't said a word since they came from the attic, and is averting Paige's eyes.

Now, as Leo and Cole make Piper and Phoebe drink their tea, Paige tries to convince David to do the same.

"Drink, Dave, you'll feel better. It's just chamomile."

"What was that?" he finally says. "What are **_you_**?" he asks, and Paige winces.

"Witches." says Piper, placing the empty cup back on the table with fairly steady hands.

David looks from her to Phoebe, and from this one to Paige. Then he gives Leo and Cole a shocked look.

"And you... you knew that?"

Leo scratches his head, uneasy, but Cole finds the question amusing. Paige glares at him and he chooses to keep his ironic remarks to himself and say simply:

"Yes."

"So, are you..." -- David gulps -- "witches, too?"

This time Cole can't help from laughing.

"Me, a witch? No, I'm..."

"Not a witch." says Leo, kicking him hard under the table. "And neither am I."

"Look, David," says Piper, "this is a long -- and complicated -- story, that Paige was going to tell you under better circumstances, but right now we have more imperative issues to deal with."

"Exactly. In case you haven't noticed," says Phoebe, "the powers you saw us using aren't ours, and we need to give them back to their owners ASAP."

"And take ours back." Piper adds, eyeing Paige.

"I guess" says David, slowly standing up, "that I'd better be going."

"David..." pleads Paige, standing up, too.

"Paige, maybe it'd be better if he left," says Piper, despite of feeling sorry for her sister, "he needs time to digest everything he's seen and heard, and right now we need to focus on undoing this mess."

Before Paige can say anything, a purple-scaled monster with a fifty-inch-long tail appears with an explosion, and the place turns into a nightmare. By force of habit, Piper, Phoebe and Paige try to use their usual powers, but since right now they don't have them, nothing works properly. Piper and Phoebe shimmer and orb all around the room, screaming. Paige explodes all the cups, one by one. David starts to levitate and soon he's hovering close to the ceiling, floundering. Cole chooses not to use any power, and has enough presence of mind to strike the creature with a chair seconds before it jumps on Paige.

The creature spins around and snaps the chair from Cole's hand, throwing it away. Cole then starts to back off, his eyes never leaving the snarling creature that steps forward as he steps back. Just then, Leo has an inspiration and shouts:

"Someone must have the power to freeze! Come on people, start trying!"

Everybody starts to motion their hands towards the beast: it still gives a couple of more steps roaring menacingly towards Cole before it finally freezes.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige are relieved to see that, with or without their powers, being good witches they still won't freeze.

"All right," says Piper, after a few seconds, "who did it?"

"I think it was me."

The three sisters turn to Cole, who still has his hands up, staring at them in deep shock.

"**_You_** have my freezing power?" Piper asks, dumbfounded.

"Believe me, I'll be glad to trade it back for my shimmering power." he says.

"Why didn't you freeze just the ugly purple thing?" Paige asks, intrigued. "That's what Piper would have done."

"Probably for the same reason you attacked the tea, not the purple thing." says Cole, darting her an annoyed look. "These freaking powers don't work properly."

"Hey!" says Piper, frowning. "For your information, I don't like your stupid power, either! I feel like I spent the past fifteen minutes inside a washing machine on 'centrifuge mode'."

"Hello-o!" says Phoebe, impatiently. "Frozen purple monster in the middle of the kitchen! Vanquish spell first, 'stupidest power competition' later."

She walks straight to the Book of Shadows and slams it open, muttering under her breath:

"Not that anything could be worse than **_my_** stupid power..."

While Phoebe browses the Book of Shadows, searching for information on the creature, Paige asks, worried:

"Do you think with all that happened we've kept at least the Power of Three?"

"Oh, you'd better have," says Cole, "because if on top of everything I have to cast a spell, I'm gonna freak out."


	3. Power Inventory (I)

After Phoebe, Piper and Paige read the spell and the monster burns in flames, Cole unfreezes Leo and David, after a few unsuccessful attempts that drive Piper and Paige to the edge of hysteria.

Following Phoebe's instructions, David manages to go back to the floor, and this time it's easy to convince him to stay until the powers are returned to their owners.

While Piper wipes dry the table and the floor, Phoebe and Cole collect the pieces of the shattered cups, Paige goes upstairs to change her tea-soaked blouse, and David just sits there, dumbfounded, Leo gets a piece of paper and a pen and starts to make an inventory of the powers.

When they're all sitting at the kitchen table again, he reads it out loud:

"Freezing, exploding, premonitions, levitation, orbing, healing, orbing things, energy balls, shimmering, orbing, healing, locating witches." -- he pauses and looks around -- "Am I forgetting anything?"

When everybody says no, Leo mutters:

"Let's just hope no one has received a new power recently..."

Then he sighs and starts writing the names next to the powers:

"Now let's see who has which power. Freezing: Cole."

Piper gives Cole a dirty look, and he scowls in response. Leo notices it, waves his head and keeps writing.

"Exploding: Paige. Of all people..." he sighs.

"Hey!" says Paige.

The others immediately say in unison:

"Hands behind!"

She puts both hands behind her back, pouting, and Leo proceeds:

"Premonitions?"

Cole raises his hand, slightly embarrassed.

"I guess that would be me, too."

"Up there in the attic...?" says Leo.

"Right."

"Oh, baby!" says Phoebe, stroking his arm. "The first ones are awful, but it eventually grows on you."

"No offense, baby, but I hope I can give your power back to you before it has the chance to grow on me." says Cole, putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to him.

"Levitation: David."

David shivers and runs his hand through his hair.

"Orbing: Phoebe. Hum... Shimmering: Piper."

Leo stops writing and looks at the others.

"We still need to find out who else can orb, two people that can heal, one that can orb things around, one that can locate witches, and, well, I'd really like to know who's gonna start throwing energy balls."

"Well, don't look at me: I've already got two powers, and it's a handful." says Cole.

"Okay, then," says Leo, "who wants to try to orb?"

"I wish I could," says Paige, "I tried to orb the moment that monster arrived."

"And I tried to orb when Piper screamed upstairs," says Leo, "didn't work for me, either."

"I tried to shimmer to Phoebe," says Cole, "if I had the orbing power, I'd have orbed out then."

When David notices that everyone's staring at him, he says, nervously:

"I don't... I don't even know what you're talking about."

"Orbing is what Phoebe did when she disappeared from the living room and went to the attic." says Leo. "There's no need to be afraid, David, it's an evasive power, whose only function is to take you from one place to another. Besides, it's a Whitelighter power, it can't cause any harm."

"Oh God..." David moans.

"Just try, David," says Piper, gently, "picture yourself going from here to somewhere else. The living room, for example."

David closes his eyes, takes a deep breath... and orbs out. Instead of going to the living room, though, he appears on the counter. When they see him sitting on the counter, with his eyes still shut, the others have to bite their lips to avoid laughing.

"You can open your eyes now, David." says Piper, with a smile, while Leo writes David's name next to the second "Orbing" of the list.

Cole leans towards Phoebe and whispers in her ear:

"If we had to get out of here for some reason, you take me with you, because there's no way I'm going anywhere with him."

"Don't worry, baby." she says, smiling and stroking his arm. "I'll take care of you."

Cole smiles at the thought of his girlfriend orbing him around and kisses her.

"Honey, I see the point of what you're doing," says Piper, holding Leo's hand, "but don't you think you should go see what the Elders know about it while we finish the power inventory?"

"I wish I could, honey," says Leo, with an embarrassed smile, "but I can't orb, remember?"

Piper's eyes grow round.

"Oh, God, we're incommunicado!"

"Not necessarily." says Paige. Everybody looks at her, intrigued, and she motions her head towards Phoebe.

"Me??" says Phoebe.

"Why not?" says Leo. "You can orb us both up there."

"Leo, I only orbed to the attic: I know where the attic is. I have no idea where the, uh... 'up there' is."

"You've been there," says Piper, "when we vanquished that warlock, Eames."

"Yes, but Leo was driving." says Phoebe. "I was just sitting on the back seat."

"Phoebe, they're right." says Leo. "Despite of the car metaphors, orbing isn't like driving: you don't need a road map, you just need to know where you're going to. Besides," he adds, discreetly pointing at David, who's still sitting at the counter, "you're our best shot."

"All right..." says Phoebe, without much enthusiasm.

She gets up and looks at Leo.

"So, what should I do?"

"Give me your hand." he says, standing up, too.

"Wait a minute!" says Cole, alarmed. "You're gonna leave us here, without the Power of Three, with nothing but these malfunctioning powers?"

"There's nothing wrong with the powers, Cole." says Leo. "It's just that you still don't know how to use them."

"And how was that supposed to make me feel safer?"

"If another of those creatures show up, you freeze it and Paige explodes it." says Phoebe, smiling and fondling his hair.

Although Cole is clearly not thrilled with the idea of Paige exploding things, he sighs, resigned.

"Just don't take long." he says.

Phoebe leans down and gives him a light kiss, then she turns back to Leo, holds his hand and says:

"What should I do now?"

"Focus on the place you wanna go... and go." he says.

"You," says Phoebe, pointing at Piper, "take care of my boyfriend while I'm gone."

Then she closes her eyes and in a few seconds they both start to glow, surrounded by swirling blue lights. After a few more seconds, Phoebe and Leo finally orb out.

"I just hope she has orbed them to the right place." Piper sighs.

"Speaking of that," says Cole, moving to a chair next to her, "we need to talk about this new power of yours."

"What about it?"

"For a start, shimmering is a little more complex than orbing," he says, ignoring her look of disdain, "you can not only go from one place to another, but also from one realm to another, not to mention time traveling. We wouldn't want you to shimmer us straight to the Source's lair, would we?"

That gets Piper attention, and she listens carefully to what he has to say.

Meanwhile, Paige timidly approaches David and sits beside him on the counter. He gives her a suspicious look, but at least doesn't move away.

"David..." she starts.

"When were you gonna tell me?" he asks.

"Soon." she says, flushing. "I was trying to take the heart, 'cause I was afraid you'd react... the way you're reacting now."

"Oh! You mean, scared to death for being attacked by purple murderous beasts, floating in the air and being -- how do you call it? -- orbed from one place to another, unable to control myself?" he asks, bitterly.

"David, this isn't my fault! You can see that everyone here has the same problem. Do you think I like exploding things?"

As David doesn't answer, Paige proceeds:

"Just because I'm a witch it doesn't mean I take part in satanic rituals, or dance naked under the full moon, or offer living sacrifices. It's just that me and my sisters, we have these powers, that we use to do good and protect the innocents. But I'm still the Paige you know, the girl who likes to dance, is afraid of cockroaches, wants to be a social worker and complains about her boss."

David bites his lower lip and remains silent for a moment. Then he sighs and says:

"Look, this is way much more than I can handle in just one evening. Why don't we try to fix this... power mess, then I go home, have some sleep, and we talk again tomorrow?"

Paige is a little disappointed, but does her best to hide it: after all, at least he's trying to understand.

"Okay." she says. "Now, about these powers you've got..." 


	4. Power Inventory (II)

When Phoebe and Leo orb back, they arrive at the same time that a small red and yellow striped creature, with bat wings and pointy teeth, makes its appearance. When it hedgehops, barely missing Phoebe's head, she screams and almost orbs out again, but Piper just commands:

"Freeze!"

Cole raises his hands, and this time he freezes only the flying beast.

"Kick!"

David levitates to where the frozen creature is and kicks it hard, sending it down.

"Explode!"

When the creature is close to the floor, Paige motions her hands towards it and it explodes, leaving only a pool of red and yellow goo on the floor. Phoebe and Leo watch, astonished, as Paige and David high five, and Piper and Cole shake hands briefly. Then Piper turns to the newcomers and explains, grinning:

"It's the third one since the two of you left. We're kind of getting a grip on it."

"Well, I'm glad to see that you kids are enjoying your new powers," says Phoebe, "because it seems like we're gonna be stuck with them for a while."

"WHAT??"

Everybody immediately starts to complain, all of them speaking at the same time.

"Hey, I'm just the messenger!" says Phoebe, taking a step back and raising her hands in a defensive posture.

"Welcome to my world..." says Leo, smirking.

"Phoebe, I can't believe it! Don't they have at least a hunch?" says Paige.

"If you just calm down we're gonna explain everything." says Phoebe.

They then move to the living room, carefully circling the remains of the red and yellow creature, jumping over a pool of baby blue goo at the doorway and avoiding a huge gray stain on the wall.

"Eew!" says Phoebe. "Do these things come out with water?"

"Please, Phoebe, I'm trying not to think about it." says Piper.

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When they're all sitting in the living room, Phoebe and Leo start to explain what the Elders said.

"Who are these Elders?" David whispers, leaning towards Paige, who's sitting in an armchair next to him.

"They're Leo's bosses." she whispers back.

"I thought he wasn't a witch."

"He's not. He's, uh... kind of a guardian angel."

David gives Leo an intrigued look, then he turns his eyes to Cole:

"What about him? Is he...?"

"An angel?" whispers Paige, giggling. "Not at all. I'll tell you about him later."

"Ah-hem!" Phoebe cleans her throat, giving them a stern look, and they quickly straighten up.

She's sitting on the arm of the armchair Cole is in, with her hand on his shoulder, and Leo and Piper are sitting together on the couch.

"As I was saying," Phoebe proceeds, "switching back the powers is easy, but it can't be done until we vanquish Engres -- the warlock who cast the spell."

"You mean we're gonna have to fight using these switched powers?" says Piper, grimacing.

"Believe me, I'm not any more thrilled than you are." says Phoebe.

"The good news," says Leo, "is that Engres wouldn't have gone into the trouble of switching the powers if he thought he could beat you under normal circumstances."

"And the bad news," says Cole, "is that the current circumstances are far from normal."

"But they're not necessarily adverse, baby." says Phoebe. "The powers are here with us: if we can learn how to use them, we'll be able to defeat Engres."

"Maybe." says Cole, without much conviction. "But if returning the powers to their owners is so easy, why do we have to fight using powers that aren't ours?"

"If it's another of their rules..." Piper starts to say, but Leo puts his hand on her arm.

"No, honey, this time it has nothing to do with the rules."

"If it's not about rules, then what is it?" says Paige.

"Let me see how I can explain this..." says Leo. He hesitates, biting his lower lip, then proceeds: "The powers belong to us, but they're not a part of us. This spell worked in two levels: one, it broke the bond between our powers and us; and two, it physically separated the powers from their owners. With the original bonds broken, the powers just wandered around the room."

"So, that freak wind..." says Paige.

"Just our powers flying around."

"Still, why can't we reverse the spell?" Piper insists.

"Because it can't be reversed." says Phoebe. "We need to cast another spell, to separate the powers again so that they can go back to their owners. But if we do this before the bonds are rebuilt, the powers will just get shuffled and redistributed."

"You're talking about twelve powers and six people. The number of combinations is..." -- Cole frowns, struggles with the math for a while, then gives up with a sigh -- "... a lot. If we go separating the powers over and over until they spontaneously go back to their owners, it's gonna last forever."

"That's why," says Leo, "we need to vanquish Engres first. Once he's gone, the bonds will be rebuilt." 

"The Elders believe that Engres is the one summoning these beasts and sending them after us. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't be much of a threaten -- at least, not to us -- but the spell left us much more vulnerable. They also think that he's gonna be sending more and more of these monsters, but if we keep beating them, eventually he'll have to come in person."

"And how many of these creatures are there?" David asks, apprehensively.

"Unfortunately they're pretty easy to summon," says Cole, "anyone who is strong enough to mess with our powers must... hell, anyone who is strong enough to mess with **_my_** powers **_has_** to be strong enough to summon an infinite number of them."

"Hey, if you knew that, why didn't you tell us **_before_** we went up there?" says Leo, annoyed.

"Because," says Cole, "the main reason for you to go up there -- excuse me, for **_Phoebe_** to take you up there -- was to find out a way to switch the powers back."

"Still..."

"Shush!" says Cole, waving his hand towards Leo and freezing him.

"Hey!" says Piper, outraged, while Cole laughs.

"That's personal gain, I told you... that's... wrong!" says Phoebe, punctuating the words with slaps in his hand. "Now unfreeze him!"

Cole chuckles and unfreezes Leo, and this one glares at him but says nothing.

"Now, if we're done with the childish behavior," says Piper, eyeing Cole, "how do we vanquish Engres?"

"There's a vanquishing spell in the Book of Shadows." says Leo.

"That simple, huh?" she says, raising an eyebrow.

"Simple is good for me!" says Paige, jumping to her feet to go get the Book of Shadows.

"Well," says Piper, while Paige sits back in the armchair and opens the Book of Shadows, "I guess we should also finish the power inventory, in order to more efficiently fight the next beasts."

"Weren't you supposed to do that while we were up there?" says Leo.

"Three colorful beasts in half an hour, remember?"

"All right..." Leo sighs. "Where's my list?"

Piper takes the folded piece of paper from her pocket and hands it to him, along with the pen.

"Okay," he says, unfolding the paper, "we have two healers here, but no one injured."

"It can be a minor injury, right?" says Phoebe. "I'll get a pin to prick the finger of a volunteer."

While she goes upstairs to get the pin, Piper says:

"While she's upstairs we could find out who has the witch radar."

"Good idea." says Leo. "Everybody focus on Phoebe, and let's see who can tell which room she's in."

Everybody remains silent for a while, then Paige says:

"Bedroom! Now, wait... she's leaving... hall... coming downstairs... ta-da!" she points at Phoebe with a flourish, as her sister shows up.

"What?" says Phoebe, puzzled.

"Paige can locate witches." says Piper.

"Good for her." says Phoebe, joining them. "Then, since she already has two powers, she probably doesn't have the healing power, too. Come on," she says, reaching out for Paige's hand, "you're gonna be our guinea pig."

"No!" says Paige, putting both hands behind her back.

"Paige, don't be such a baby, it's just a prick!" says Piper.

"Then prick **_your_** finger!"

Piper rolls her eyes and offers Phoebe her hand, and Phoebe pricks her sister's index finger. When a small drop of blood appears, she puts her hand over it, and is delighted to see it glow and the blood retract.

"Cool!"

"My turn, my turn!" says Piper.

Phoebe pricks her own finger and shows it to Piper, who promptly heals it.

"Using these Whitelighter powers feel so good." she says, smiling at Leo.

"That's because they're triggered by love." he says, smiling back at his wife. Then, after writing the girls' names next to 'Healing', he checks his list and says: "There are just two powers left: orbing things and energy balls. I suggest we start with the power to orb things, since it's less dangerous. So, who wants to give it a try?"

The others stare at him in silence, but he doesn't get it until Piper says, as gently as possible:

"Honey, you're the only one left."

"All right," says Leo, "then I should be the one orbing things and... What??? No way!"

He gives Cole a horrified look, making him burst into laughing.

"I've got..." -- Leo gulps -- "a demonic power?"

He stands up, refusing to believe.

"No, that's not possible, obviously one of you has got three powers, and I've got only the power to orb things around."

"Stop whining, Whitelighter." says Cole, standing up and following him, clearly amused. "You wished for an aggressive power, didn't you? Believe me, you've got a good one."

"No way." Leo repeats, stubbornly. "There's aggressive power, and then there's killing power. Let's test the others, I do not have this power."

"Leo, come on, we don't have all day." Cole pursues, pushing him lightly. "You've got my power and you're gonna use it."

Leo just takes another step away from him, and Cole follows him.

"I can't believe my best power is being wasted on a guy who doesn't have the guts to use it!" he snorts. "You should be ashamed of yourself: the girls are doing much better than you." -- he pushes Leo again -- "Come on, be a man!"

Leo spins around and points at Cole, furious:

"Now listen, you..."

The energy ball comes out of his hand so fast that Cole almost doesn't have time to freeze it.

"Wow!" Cole says, grinning. "It was about time! I was almost giving up on you."

Leo stares at the energy ball frozen in the air with big round eyes, and Cole carefully walks around it and slaps his back.

"This kind of power is triggered by anger, so you'd better get used to it." he says, smirking.

Just then, another creature, larger than the others, appears right in front of the energy ball. Cole unfreezes the energy ball and it hits the creature, that then bursts into flames. Then he adds, with a smile:

"Don't you just love it when they make things easy for us?"


	5. Engres

The creature that was killed by Leo's energy ball was much larger than any of the previous ones, leading them to the conclusion that it won't take long until Engres himself shows up. Right now, they're going over their combat strategy, with the Book of Shadows, opened on the page that shows the spell to vanquish Engres, resting on the coffee table.

"So," says Cole, "this is the plan: anything that moves, I'll freeze. If it's small, Paige explodes it. Otherwise, Leo blasts it." -- he's clearly amused by Leo's evident uneasiness -- "The Charmed Ones stand next to the Book of Shadows, so that they can cast the spell as soon as Engres arrives. Also, Piper, Phoebe and David are in charge of an eventual withdrawal. If everything else fails, the three of you get us out of here."

Cole stops and looks around.

"Any doubts?" he asks.

As if on key, the room is suddenly filled with small green creatures, with sharp fangs and claws. There's about a dozen of them, flying around and squeaking. Another beast appears in the middle of the room, a huge black furred monster that is almost seven feet high. Despite their best intents, Piper, Phoebe and David scream in fear and leave the moment the creature roars menacingly, making the windows vibrate.

When Cole sees their support team routed, he curses and attempts to freeze all the creatures. He ends up not only freezing Leo too, but also finding out that the big one just didn't freeze.

"Paige, do something, this one won't freeze!" he shouts.

Paige motions her hands frantically towards the creature, but nothing happens.

"And it won't explode, either!" she yells.

Cole tries to freeze the creature again. This time he succeeds, but everyone else unfreezes. He freezes them again, causing the big one to unfreeze. It's not only stronger than the others, but also smarter: once it understands that Cole is freezing it, it walks straight to him, ignoring Paige, Leo -- who is still frozen, along with the green creatures -- and Piper, Phoebe and David, who have just returned, saying:

"Sorry!"

"The green ones, Paige, explode the green ones!" Cole shouts, as he freezes the big one again, causing all the others to unfreeze.

Paige starts to explode them one by one, with some help from Phoebe and David, who kick the ones within reach, sending them in her direction.

Meanwhile, Cole is struggling to keep the black one frozen. Sweat drops run down his face and his muscles are strained, yet the creature keeps walking towards him in slow motion.

"Damn it, Leo!" he shouts, never taking his eyes off the creature. "Kill it!"

Leo stares at the creature, but he just can't bring himself to throw an energy ball.

"I can't." he says in an anguished voice. "God I can't, I'm a Whitelighter."

Piper shimmers beside him and puts her hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, you can, honey," she says, "I know you can."

The monster manages to give one more step in Cole's direction, its open mouth revealing enormous fangs. Then Leo takes a deep breath and throws a huge energy ball that annihilates it. Paige has just exploded the last flying creature, but before they have a chance to breathe, a warlock appear, surrounded by dark smoke. Piper shimmers back to where her sisters are, but Engres is faster: with a quick gesture towards the Book of Shadows, he sends it upwards, until it's hovering out of their reach. Barely glancing at Leo and Cole, he waves his hand towards them and sends both flying towards the wall. They crash against the wall and fall on the floor, unconscious.

When Engres turns his attention back to the three sisters, with a sneer, Piper whispers nervously:

"Plan B?"

"I'm afraid I'll need a ride." murmurs Paige, watching with dismay as David orbs out again.

To her surprise, though, he orbs in across the room, out of Engres's sight, gathers way and levitates until he reaches the Book of Shadows. Then David grabs it and lands right in front of the girls, with the open book in his hands.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige immediately start to read the vanquishing spell out loud:

_"You've used your powers to spread the pain  
You felt no remorse, you'd do it again  
But now you'll face the Power of Three:  
Banished from this world forever you'll be."_

After Engres disappears, screaming in pain, Piper and Phoebe run towards Leo and Cole. Piper easily heals Leo and hugs him, but Phoebe can't heal Cole. He moans and shivers in her arms, but doesn't regain consciousness, and there's blood in the back of his head.

"Leo, what's wrong? Why can't I heal him?" she asks nervously, while her hands keep glowing, but his head still bleeds.

"Here, give me your hand," says Piper, letting go off Leo and holding one of her sister's hands, while she puts her free hand over Cole's head. "Let's try doing it together."

The blood then retracts and the wound is closed. When Cole opens his eyes and looks from one sister to the other, still woozy, Phoebe holds him tight and covers his face with kisses, while Leo pulls Piper towards him again and says:

"Nice job, Mrs. Whitelighter."

"Well, you weren't that bad, either." she whispers, running her hands playfully across his chest.

David and Paige watch them from across the room. Then David looks at Paige and asks:

"So, this is one of your powers?"

"Yes." she says, giving him a sheepish smile. "I heal people. Cool, isn't it?"

David hesitates, then smiles back at her.

"A lot." he says.


	6. It Ain't Over Until It's Over

Note #1: As I mentioned before, this story was already finished when I started to post it. I intended to upload the sixth and last chapter today, but I'm afraid I'm really getting addicted to those reviews. For some reason Brazilian readers almost never review, so I only knew the joy of receiving feedback after I started posting here. Long story short, some people said they didn't want the powers to be switched back yet, and I thought, what the heck, I had so much fun writing this story, I might as well write a few extra scenes. So, this is the bonus track, only available on the English version.

Note #2: Will you stop making fun of my monsters in your reviews? You're hurting their feelings.

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As Piper and Leo stand up, she gives a disgusted look around.

"Can you believe this?" she says, pointing at the goo-covered walls. And floor. And furniture.

"I think this was one of the messiest warlocks we have ever fought." says Phoebe, as she and Cole stand up, too.

"One of the... Just out of curiosity, how often do you, uh, have warlocks over?" David asks, frowning.

"You mean just warlocks or any kind of evil creature?" Phoebe asks.

David raises an intrigued eyebrow, but before he can ask what kind of other evil creatures there are, Paige says, eyeing Leo:

"So, I think we can now return the powers to their owners, right?"

"Yes, thanks goodness." says Leo. "No offense." he adds, looking at Cole.

"None taken." says Cole. "In fact," he adds with a mocking smile, "as soon as you and your wife give me my powers back, I'll be more than glad to return the ones currently under my possession."

Leo smiles as he takes a piece of paper from his pocket, containing the spell to release the powers.

"You know," he says, smirking as he unfolds the piece of paper, "it's a shame that you were born a demon: from what I've seen tonight, you'd have made quite a witch."

Cole chuckles, in spite of himself, and says:

"You weren't all that bad, too... for a Whitelighter."

"Switching back powers, guys!" says Paige, noticing the alarmed look on David's face when Leo said 'demon'.

"Right." says Leo. "First, we need..." he halts, frowning.

"Honey?" says Piper, but he raises his hand to silence her, looking up. The others watch, slightly worried, as Leo listens to the words that only he can hear, the look of confusion being gradually replaced by disappointment and finally by worry.

David gives Paige an inquisitive look, but she motions him to wait until the Elders finish whatever message they're sending to Leo.

"Uh, Phoebe, could you please orb me up there again?" Leo asks, after a few seconds.

"Why don't we switch back powers first so that you can orb yourself up there?" Phoebe asks, not really wanting to hear the answer.

"They specifically told me to go up there **_before_** we did this." he says, not looking very happy himself.

"But you said..." starts Cole.

"I know what I said." says Leo, slightly annoyed. "And I'm not happier than you are with the sudden change of directions, but I can't just ignore them. Phoebe?" he calls, reaching his hand out.

"We'll be right back." says Phoebe, going on tiptoes to kiss Cole.

"You... Wow!" -- Cole falters and reaches out to lean against the wall, feeling his head spin.

"Baby, are you okay?" says Phoebe, alarmed.

"Hum, I think I've just had another premonition." he says, grimacing.

"Oh, that can't be good." says Piper.


	7. Disappearing Act

Leo grimaces as Phoebe turns her attention back to Cole, oblivious to his reaching hand. He had never left the Elders waiting for so long, and right now takes a mental note to never do that again. They definitely have a way of being insistent: he feels like there's one thousand angry bees humming and flying around inside his head.

"Baby, what did you see?" says Phoebe, touching Cole's face.

"I saw you... chained to the wall, and then this really big wolf jumped on you." -- he reaches out for her and pulls her towards him -- "God, Phoebe, how do you bear those premonitions? They feel so damn real!"

"Did you get to see where she was?" Piper asks, frowning.

"Phoebe, can we go see what they want and deal with this later?" says Leo, rubbing his forehead. "They're getting impatient."

"What?" says Cole, increasing his grip on Phoebe. "No! Weren't you listening? I saw her being attacked by a wolf and you want to separate her from the rest of us? No way: she's safer here."

"Cole, don't be ridiculous, there are no wolves up there: whatever it is that you saw, it won't happen while we're there." says Leo. "Besides, they have something to tell us, maybe about this very premonition you've just had."

"Still," says Cole, stubbornly, "what if the premonition was meant to prevent her from leaving? What if she's gonna fail to orb up there and the two of you will end up somewhere else?"

"She had no trouble orbing up there earlier, Cole. Will you stop being such a baby?" Leo snaps, his voice getting harsher as his mild discomfort grows into a headache.

"Then I'll go with the two of you."

"WHAT???" says Leo, shocked. "Are you out of your mind? There's no way I'm taking a demon up there!"

"I..."

"Enough, the two of you!" says Phoebe, raising her hands. "Leo, let me handle this. Baby," she says, turning to Cole and cupping his face in her hands, "we need to know what the Elders have to say: they wouldn't have called Leo in such a hurry if it wasn't important. Now, Leo can't orb by himself and David has never been up there, so it leaves only me. I'll be fine, I promise."

Cole lets out a heavy sigh and says, touching her face:

"Be careful, okay? And you," he says eyeing Leo, "watch over her."

"It's my job, isn't it?" says Leo, annoyed.

Before Cole can snarl something in response to this, Phoebe takes Leo's hand and orbs them out.

"I hate this part." says Paige, as the swirling blue lights fade away.

"What part?" says David.

"The waiting."

"Yeah, me too." sighs Piper. "I hate standing here with nothing to do but worry."

She looks around, looking for a goo-free place to sit on. There's none.

"You know what? Let's clean up this mess."

"What?" says Cole, grimacing. "How is cleaning supposed to help?"

"It'll keep us busy." says Piper, already heading to the kitchen. "Idle hands are the devil's workshop."

"Yeah, right." says Cole, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "If that makes you feel better, suit yourself, but I must warn you that I don't do cleanup." 

"Oh yes, you do." she says without even looking back.

"You're so lucky I can't freeze you." he mumbles, glaring at the doorway through which she has just disappeared.

"Cole, can I ask you a question?" says David, approaching him.

"Uh? Sure." he says, turning to Paige's boyfriend.

"Has Leo just said that you're a, uh... demon?"

"Half demon." he says. "You see, my father was human. It's like..." -- he starts to point at Paige, but sees the frantic gestures she's making out of David's sight -- "... the children Leo and Piper will have some day: they're gonna be half human and half whitelighter."

"I see." says David, struggling to adjust this piece of information to the whole bunch of new stuff he's learned over the past couple of hours. "So, in the same way that there are bad witches and good witches, there also bad demons and good demons?"

Cole is still laughing when they hear a commotion coming from the kitchen. When the three of them arrive there, they see the cleaning articles Piper had been gathering scattered on the floor, and no sign of her.

"Piper?" Paige calls to the empty room.

Cole cautiously walks in, with his hands in position, ready to freeze anything that moves.

"Oh, man! We had just vanquished the bad guy," moans Paige, taking a step inside, "shouldn't the credits be rolling up by now?"

David starts to say something, still standing at the doorway, when they hear a familiar chiming sound coming from the living room, followed by Phoebe's upset voice.

"I'm just saying they could have told us the whole story all at once." she says, already walking towards the Book of Shadows.

"David, call the others, we..." -- Leo stops abruptly as he sees David's worried look, and walks quickly to the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" he asks. Seeing Cole and Paige standing there with anxious looks does nothing to reassure him. "Where's Piper?"

"She's... wait a minute, where's Phoebe?" says Cole, frowning.

"In the living room, **_where's Piper?_** says Leo, eyeing Cole.

"No, she's not." says David, peering through the door.

Cole walks around the kitchen table and darts through the door, ignoring Leo. David quickly gets out of the way, as he dashes past him, followed by a distressed Leo. He hesitates, then enters the kitchen and puts his arm protectively around Paige's waist, murmuring as they walk back to the living room:

"You stay close to me."

In the living room, they find Leo and Cole standing beside the Book of Shadows, that lies opened on the coffee table.

"What's wrong with you?" snaps Cole "I told you about the premonition and still you couldn't take care of her for fifteen lousy minutes?"

"Look, guys..." says Paige.

"I was worried about Piper," Leo shouts, "what's **_your_** excuse?"

"Can we..." says David.

"My... what? I did nothing, she went to the kitchen and never came back, how is this supposed to be my fault?"

"Listen..." says Paige.

"Why did you let her go there alone?"

"We think..." says David.

"Leo, it's the kitchen, not the freaking Underworld! How could I know it wasn't safe?"

"It's not..." says Paige.

"Damn it, Cole, for how long have you been living in this house? There's no such thing as safe here."

Cole sees the energy ball hovering over Leo's hand even before the Whitelighter realizes he has created it. Without much thinking, he freezes the entire room, except for him and Paige.

Not having noticed the energy ball yet, Paige rolls her eyes and addresses Cole a reproachful look.

"Cole, now is not the time for this!" she snaps. Then she sees the frozen energy ball on Leo's hand and gasps.

"Now I understand," Cole mutters, slowly walking around Leo, "why they don't give Whitelighters any lethal powers."

When Cole unfreezes him, at first Leo is outraged by the sudden disappearance of his interlocutor.

"What the..." -- when he sees the energy ball on his hand, Leo opens his eyes wide, baffled -- "Have... Have I just...?"

"Would you mind vanishing this?" says Cole, pointing at the energy ball, ready to freeze it again, and Leo quickly makes it disappear, flustered.

"I didn't mean to, uh... I'm sorry."

"It's okay," says Cole, with a sigh, "at least it made us cool off. Blaming each other will do no good, what we need now is a plan."

"We have one." says David, putting his arm around Paige's shoulders.


	8. Rescue Team

Note #1: I did some research and there's actually a Lilburn Cave in California. And I checked out some obvious data like how far it is from San Francisco, and how big it is. It was California's longest known cave in 1998, but I didn't do that much research, maybe someone has found a longer one since then. I just wanted to give the story some plausibility. Okay, maybe "plausible" doesn't apply to the Charmed Ones, a Whitelighter and a half demon, but still... whatever. Just read the story, okay?

Note #2: I love your reviews. I really do. And I hope you don't mind me answering them, because I think it's great to be able to interact with the readers. Anyway, as for ColeTurner1329's comment about Leo being a little out of character: you really think so? Because -- honestly -- I think that after all the guy went through on the past two hours (seeing his wife shimmer, having to use a demoniac lethal power, being thrown against the wall, scowled by the Elders, his wife missing) he is entitled to lose his temper.

Note #3 (the last one, I promise): You didn't get rid of my colourful monsters: I just needed a break from them, but they'll be back on my next story.

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"A plan?" says Leo.

"The two of you?" says Cole, raising one eyebrow.

"Yes, is there something wrong with that?" says Paige, placing her hands on her hips.

Leo and Cole exchange a doubtful look before Leo says cautiously:

"Uh, no. What exactly do you have in mind?"

"In fact, it's pretty simple. I have the power to locate Piper and Phoebe, and David has the power to take us to where they are, so all we need now is..."

"Wow, wait a minute! David?" says Leo.

"Oh, I don't think so." says Cole, taking one step back, as if David would orb them out any minute.

"Hey!" says David, frowning. "I resent that."

"Says the man who failed to orb from the kitchen to the living room." says Cole.

"For your information, while the two of you were lying unconscious on the floor, I _orbited_ across the room and landed exactly where I meant to."

"Please tell me that what the Elders had to tell you was of any help." mutters Cole, running his hand across his face.

"The Elders: right." says Leo. Then, giving Paige and David a conciliatory smile: "Look, before we start, uh... orbiting around, let me catch you up with what the Elders have told me. The reason why they didn't want the powers to be released yet was that the bonds weren't rebuilt."

"But Engres..." says Paige.

"Apparently wasn't working alone."

"Oh, great!" says Cole, annoyed. "Couldn't they have shared this little piece of information the first time you and Phoebe were up there?"

"You know what?" says Paige. "This is not important now." Then, turning back to Leo: "Do they know who Engres was working with?"

"No." says Leo. "But it has to be someone very close to him, which means the vanquishing spell will probably work for him... or her, too."

"Probably... bad word." says Cole, frowning.

"Do you think this is the same person who abducted Piper and Phoebe?" David asks.

"Well, either it's the same person, or it's the warlock with the greatest timing ever." says Paige. "Anyway, I still think the first thing we should do is track then down. And right now, this is my job. So, may I?" she gives Leo an inquisitive and slightly impatient look.

"By all means." he says.

Cole opens his mouth to say something, then thinks again and remains in silence as Paige takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and tries to empty her mind from everything but her sisters. The three men watch her as she frowns, then opens her eyes, saying:

"Found them."

"You did?" says Cole, surprised.

"Yeah." she says, annoyed. "Did you think I wouldn't be able to?"

"No, I just thought they'd be off Whitelighter's radar by now."

"Why?" Leo asks, intrigued.

"Well, if they can't orb or shimmer out, the place must be somehow shielded. Any magic that would prevent one from orbing out shouldn't prevent Paige from peering in?"

"Hum!" says Leo. "You're right, it should."

"Maybe it's not supposed to shield them against the radar." says David. As the others look at him, he explains: "What if whoever is behind this **_want_** us to be able to go after them?"

"A trap?" says Cole.

"Well, I've never been through anything like this in real life," says David, shrugging, "but in a movie that'd definitely be a trap."

"Yes, and we'd be the ones sitting in the audience and screaming: _Don't go in there! Can't you see it's a trap?_" says Paige.

"Well, we have to go after them, trap or no trap." says Leo.

"Agree," says Cole, "but since our arrival is expected, we should find another surprise element."

"First things first." says Leo "Paige, where are they?"

"Ever heard of Lilburn?" she asks.

"As in Lilburn Cave, Fresno?" David asks, grimacing.

"Remember how we were talking about it the other day, about how fun it would be to go caving together?" Paige asks him, with a humorless smile.

"In a commercial cave, with a certified guide and no warlocks in sight, I remember that, yes."

"What are you talking about?" Cole asks, with a hint of impatience.

"California's longest known cave, that's what we're talking about." says David.

"How far from here?" Leo asks.

"By car? It's a four-hour-trip."

"We don't have four hours." says Cole. Saying Paige's look he says, rolling his eyes: "So I guess we'll have to orb..."

"Will we need flashlights?" Leo asks.

"Definitely." says David. "And ropes, and some warm clothing. Really warm."

"Okay then. Paige, you have a flashlight in your car, right?"

"Yes, should I go get it?"

"Please. There's one in Piper's car, too, and another one in the cabinet under the kitchen sink."

"I have one in my car," says David, "that'll make four of them."

"Good. When you're done, you can copy the spell the girls used to vanquish Engres to a piece of paper. Cole and I will be upstairs getting some coats."

"And what about the trap thing?" says Paige.

"We'll orb to the entrance of the cave and walk the rest of the way." says Leo, already heading to the stairs. "Hopefully he or she will be expecting us to orb straight to where they are, instead of walking in. Come on people, move!"

As Paige and David go get their flashlights, Leo proceeds upstairs, followed by Cole.


	9. Down We Go

The moment David, Paige, Cole and Leo orb in King's Canyon National Park, Cole and Leo immediately let go of David's hands, grimacing.

"What. The hell. Was that?" says Cole, taking a few faltering steps away from David and stooping over with his hands on his thighs, gagging.

"Oh, shut up." mutters Leo, who's clearly having a lot of trouble keeping his dinner down, too.

"It wasn't that bad." says David. He looks down at Paige, who still has her arms around his neck. "Was it?"

"Of course it wasn't, Dave," she says, giving him a reassuring smile, "they're just cranky because they had to follow our plan."

She is feeling a little sick herself, but pigs will fly before she tells him that. She gives him one last _'you are my hero'_ look, then turns to Leo and Cole.

"Come on, you two, we have some serious evil ass kicking to do here."

"Okay, here's what I know about this cave," says David, as Leo and Cole join them next to the entrance of the cave, "it's a maze of gazillions of corridors and crawlways, many of them still unexplored, set in three layers. There are almost 17 miles of passages in there. Experienced cavers can get lost in places like this. As for us, we're never gonna get out without magic. Which means that we **_need_** to stay together. Always. If anyone gets lost, don't try to find the others: just stay where you are and wait for the others to find you.

Cole shifts his weight from one foot to the other, uneasy. Physical barriers were never a problem to him; now, the idea of being trapped under the ground, unable to shimmer out, makes him shiver.

"Are you sure, beyond any doubt, that Piper and Phoebe are in there?" Cole asks Paige.

"For the tenth time, Cole, yes." she says, slightly impatient.

"Okay," he says, taking a deep breath, "let's do it, then."

"Yeah," says Leo, staring at the ten-foot-deep shaft and the ladder that leads downwards, "let's go."

"I'm already dead," he thinks, "if I get lost down there, I won't die: I will wander around in the darkness forever, like a lost soul. Great." he bitterly adds to himself, snapping the thought away.

Cole turns on his flashlight and points it towards the bottom of the shaft. They see nothing but rocks and dust. Still, he says:

"Let me go first. If there's anything wrong, I can freeze it."

He clips his flashlight to his belt and starts to climb down, followed by Leo, David and Paige.

"Paige," says David as they wait for Cole and Leo to make their way down, "again, why can't you just use that spell you found in the Book of Shadows to light our way?"

"Because it's not a lamp that we can carry around, David. I can -- and will -- use it to light up the places we have to stop at, but I can't cast a spell to light the bottom of this shaft and expect the light to follow us down the corridors. I'd have to stop and cast the spell again at every step of the way." she explains, preparing to follow him down the shaft.

As Paige joins the three men at the bottom of the shaft, they all look at her in expectation.

"Paige, you'll have to lead us now." says Leo.

"Right." she says, looking at the dark path ahead of her with a hint of apprehension. She concentrates for a while, then says, pointing out: "This way."

Paige takes a deep breath, turns on her flashlight and heads to the passage. Cole takes a step forward, preparing to follow her, but then he feels Leo's hand resting on his shoulder.

"What?"

"Stay behind us, you and David," says Leo, walking past him, "it's bad enough that I have to throw those damned energy balls; the last thing I need is to worry about you being caught in the cross fire."

"Stay b... I am not staying behind you!" says Cole, indignant.

"Yes, you are." says Leo. "You don't need to aim, I do."

He turns on his flashlight and walks in, catching up with Paige.

David opens his mouth, then thinks again and just turns on his own flashlight and joins Cole as he follows Leo. Although Cole knows that Leo's reasoning is correct, the idea of hiding behind a Whitelighter is enough to keep him fuming as they follow Paige through the slightly descending path, slowly leaving the cave's entrance behind until the only light comes from the four flashlights they carry. He can't hear Leo muttering to himself: "Triggered by anger, just aim and shoot them, it's not evil, you're just protecting your charges..."

David's mind is filled with images of colorful beasts and merciless warlocks watching them from the darkness, ready to jump on them. Images from all the horror movies he's seen in his life haunt him, and he can't help but wonder what other kinds of magical evil beings there are. He nervously swings the flashlight beam from side to side, and repeats the words in his mind like a mantra: "Whatever happens, don't orb out, just don't orb out..."

At the head of the line, Paige keeps a slow but steady rhythm, ocasionally taking her eyes off the path lighted by her flashlight just long enough to make sure Leo's still by her side, focusing her mind on not losing her sisters' track and refusing to let any other thoughts in -- thoughts of being buried alive, of being attacked by hungry wolves, of losing her sisters... stop it! She angrily snaps the thoughts away.

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Phoebe moans and tries to open her eyes, but her eyelids feel so incredibly heavy. She's barely aware of the stone floor she's sitting on, and of the moist wall against which her back leans. She tries to put her hands on the ground to help her stand up, only to find out she can't lower her arms. There's something cold around her wrists, and it makes a metallic sound when she tugs with it. A thought crosses her dozy mind, that she should beware of wolves, but she has no idea where it came from and what it means, so she just drops it with a sigh.

A scratching noise makes her turn her head, and she manages to open her eyes enough to catch a blurred glimpse of Piper sitting on the ground a few steps beside her, her wrists chained to the wall in the same manner and struggling to get to her feet.

"Piper?" Phoebe mumbles.

"Who said you could wake up?" -- a blond woman waves her hand angrily towards the two sisters and they immediately fall asleep again.

"I'm bored," whines the blonde, addressing the dark haired woman sitting across the room, "it's taking too long, you never said it was gonna take that long."

Getting no response from her companion, she pursues:

"Can't we kill one of them while we wait?"

"Morgawse," says the dark haired woman, without raising her eyes from the white wolf whose head is resting on her knees, "you have no self control. They'll be here any minute," she adds, fondling the head of the wolf, "be patient."

"I hate being patient." says Morgawse, jumping to her feet and startling one of the other few wolves that wander around the chamber.

She paces back and forth the large cave they're in for a few minutes, not paying much attention to the wolves that quickly get out of her way as she walks past them.

"Besides," she adds, spinning around and looking at her sister with bright yellow eyes, "how can you be so sure this is gonna work, Argante? Engres said **_his_** plan would work, and now...

"It **_will_** work." says Argante, returning her sister's stare for a moment before turning her attention back to the white wolf. "And then you'll get to kill as many witches as you want, I promise you. Just make sure you save something for the kids." -- the wolves raise their heads, as if they knew she's referring to them.

"All right..." sighs Morgawse, sitting next to her older sister.

She stretches her right arm and says, watching a beautiful hand with long, polished nails:

"You know, Engres was mother's cousin. Shouldn't we, how do they call it, mourn for him?"

"Boo hoo." says Argante, nonchalantly.


	10. There Come the Wolves

Note: Before I forget, now that the story has expanded, I not only own David and Engres, but also Argante and Morgawse. And the wolves, for all that matters.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Did you hear that?" Cole whispers, tensely.

"Hear wh..." Paige starts to say.

"Shh!" -- as Cole slowly moves his flashlight around, they can see that the domed chamber they're in is much larger than any of the previous ones.

Leo starts moving his own flashlight in the opposite direction, revealing rock piles, huge stalagmites and moss covered stone walls with dozens of outlets leading in all directions. Finally, David's light beam falls on a huge black wolf, that's making the low growling sound Cole heard. Cole immediately waves his free hand towards the animal and freezes it, only to find out they can still hear the growling coming from the darkness that surrounds them.

"W-why didn't it freeze?" Paige asks.

"It did," says Cole, nervously swirling his flashlight around. "There's another one." 

"Then freeze it!" she says.

"How? I can't see it!"

"There it is," Leo and David both say at the same time. They have their flashlights pointed at different directions, each one lighting up a reddish furred wolf.

When they hear a fourth wolf growling behind them, Cole waves his hand around and freezes the entire place, not really caring if he'll also freeze David and Leo.

"Wolves don't live in caves."

"What?" says Cole, turning his flashlight towards Paige.

"Wolves d-don't live in caves, they live in dens, but not in..."

"Paige, you're babbling," says Cole, sharply, keeping his own composure at the cost of great effort. "Shut up and light up this damn place."

"Light. Okay," says Paige, directing her light beam to the piece of paper containing the spell, while Cole unfreezes Leo and David.

_"Magic light, pure and bright,  
come apace,  
light up this place!"_

The place is then filled with light, revealing three other wolves, all frozen in the act of walking towards the four people standing in the center of the chamber.

"Oh, crap..." -- says David as he unfreezes, looking at the still frozen wolves that surround them and taking a step away from the one who's right in front of him.

Right then another wolf enters the chamber, coming from a passage nearby, and Cole quickly waves his hand towards it, freezing it. That causes the other seven to unfreeze and Paige squeaks and explodes the one closest to her. Instead of scaring the others wolves away, the explosion only seems to make them angrier, and they growl menacingly before Cole freezes everything again, Leo and David included.

"Will you stop that?" snaps Paige, as she goes stand by David's side, nervously grabbing his frozen arm.

"I'm doing my best here, okay?" snarls Cole, unfreezing David.

Before he unfreezes Leo, two gray wolves enter the chamber, coming from different passages. He freezes one and Paige explodes the other, and David shudders as he and Paige are slightly sprinkled with blood.

As Leo and the remaining wolves unfreeze, the Whitelighter glances quickly at the three people gathered a few steps away from him, throws an energy ball at the big wolf that's just jumped on him, reaches out and calls:

"Cole!"

Cole feels his whole body tingle, the world goes blue and he hears the familiar chiming sound; next thing he knows, he's standing by Leo's side, the Whitelighter's hand clasped around his jacket's collar.

"I need some back up here!" shouts Leo without even looking at him, breaking out in cold sweat as he throws another energy ball, hitting two wolves at the same time. "David, help Paige!"

More and more wolves keep coming through the several passages, in an apparently endless flow.

"Wolf at nine o'clock, wolf at nine o'clock!" shouts Cole, tucking his flashlight in his jacket's pocket and waving his hands around, freezing as many wolves as he can.

"I'm not blind," Leo shouts back, throwing an energy ball at the wolf on his left, "just cover me!"

Meanwhile, David stands behind Paige, puts his arms around her waist and levitates until they're both out of the wolves' reach, making his best not to lose his balance as she explodes the wolves below them, punctuating each explosion with a shriek.

Despite of Leo's assertion, Cole can't help but warning him every time a wolf comes too close for comfort. His head aches and he feels dizzy for being constantly swiveling around: every time a new wolf comes in sight and he freezes it, the previously frozen ones unfreeze.

Leo clenches his teeth every time he throws an energy ball, hating the warm feeling that runs through his arm as he shoots them, the sound they make when they hit the wolves, the acrid smell they leave behind, and most of all the overwhelming feeling that he's gonna throw one at Cole at any minute if the man doesn't just shut the hell up.

Then, after one million wolves -- or so it feels -- it's over. There's blood all over the place, along with guts and shattered bones, and the smell is revolting.

"It's a nightmare," mutters David as he slowly lowers Paige and himself back to the ground.

"I can't believe Piper handles this power," says Paige, burying her face on his chest as they land.

"This is not a power; it's a curse," says Cole, wiping the sweat off his face.

"Let's just get out of here," says Leo, in a tired voice. "Paige, which way?"

"Uh, there," she says, pointing at a small passage, no more than three feet high.

"Man, it just gets better and better..." moans Cole.


	11. Warlocks Who Run With the Wolves

"Down there," says Paige, pointing at a passage that leads downwards. It's little more than a crack on the stone ground, narrow and extremely uninviting with its sharp, slime covered edges.

"You know, sweetie," says David, staring somberly at the passage, "instead of you using this radar power, we could just look for the lamest possible routes: I think it'd be just the same..."

"Are we at least getting close, Paige?" says Leo, holding out and helping Cole stand up as he comes out of the passage through which they came. The tunnel that started like three feet high went lower and lower until they had to crawl on their stomachs for the last twenty feet or so.

"Thanks," says Cole as he stands up, and he and Leo walk to the edge of the hole, pointing their flashlights into it. There's not much to see, though, except that it's a long way to the lower level, and they soon turn back to Paige, who's sitting on a rock, her eyes closed, with David by her side.

"We're very close," she finally says, opening her eyes.

"Can you sense them? Are they okay?" Cole asks.

"They're alive," says Paige. "But that's pretty much all I know," she adds, giving Cole and Leo an apologizing look.

"That's okay: I guess that's all we really need to know," sighs Cole, shrugging.

"Don't feel bad, Paige: you've helped a lot already," says Leo.

"Well, if we have to go down, then we have to go down," says Cole, starting to unroll the rope he brought. He looks around, uncertain. "Where would be the best place to tie the rope?"

"This seems solid enough," says David, pointing at a stalagmite next to the hole. "Here, give me the rope."

As he ties the rope around the stalagmite, Cole turns off his flashlight and clips it to his belt.

"Wait here until I say it's safe down there," he says, crouching next to the hole and peering into the darkness below.

"Whoa, wait a second!" says Leo. "Why you?"

"Because as you mentioned earlier, unlike you and Paige, I don't need to aim. If things get weird down there, I can just freeze the entire place."

"I guess you're right," Leo admits. "Anyway, if you get in trouble just let me now and I'll orb you out of there."

"I will," says Cole, sitting down with his legs hanging over the edge and taking the rope.

"Why did you turn off your flashlight?" Paige asks.

"The light beam would probably just confuse me, swirling around as I climbed down. It'd more likely turn me into an easier target if there's anyone... or anything awaiting down there."

He gives one last look to the darkness that awaits him and starts to climb down the rope, leaving the others with nothing to do but wait.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Phoebe wakes up again, but she keeps her head down this time. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Piper turn her head slightly towards her, but they just exchange a silent look, not wanting their capturers to know they're awake. Fortunately, Argante and Morgawse are engaged in a discussion about who'll get which power, oblivious to the two sisters' movements.

"If you're gonna get the energy balls," says Morgawse, "then I want the exploding power."

"Fine," says Argante, "but I'll get the freezing power."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As Cole climbs down the rope, he feels his heart pounding furiously. The feeling creeping inside him is not fear -- although, descending into the darkness, feeling helpless without his powers, all alone in a place full of evil creatures... ok, so he **_is_** scared to death. But there's more to it: somehow he feels there's more evil here than in any of the other chambers they've been, _Attack of the Killing Wolves Chamber_ included. The further down he goes, the stronger the feeling gets. It feels like an eternity before his feet finally touch the ground; he reaches out for the flashlight clipped to his belt, but his hand halts half way to the on/off switch. Instead of turning on the flashlight, Cole stands still, trying to peer into the darkness... except that it's not entirely dark in here. He cautiously turns around and sees a dim light coming from an entrance nearby. He carefully starts to walk towards it, hoping the others will know better than come after him before he says so, the rope still clasped in his hand.

After a few steps Cole crosses the entrance and finds himself in a narrow corridor: the light comes from the right, but after two steps in this direction he runs out of rope. He stops, ties the end of the rope to the one Leo brought, then proceeds towards the source of the light, walking as close to the wall as he can. Finally he peers around the corner and sees a large chamber, lit by several torches. There's a blond woman standing up with her back turned to him, talking to someone whose face he can't see. Cole grimaces as he sees three big wolves lying at the feet of the woman's interlocutor. Then he notices Phoebe and Piper, chained to the opposite wall, and his heart misses a beat. Their heads are down, and from the distance he can't tell if they're conscious. He squints his eyes, knowing that the longer he stays here, the bigger the chances are that he'll be seen. Just when he's about to get back, he's rewarded by the sight of Phoebe raising her head ever so slightly, only enough for her eyes to meet his. Cole puts his finger on his lips, and points at Piper's motionless form. As Phoebe nods in confirmation, he holds up his hand, silently asking her to be patient, and slowly starts to withdraw.

Cole retraces his footsteps back, leaded by the rope, not daring to turn on his flashlight and risk being seen. When he is right below the passage he came through, he starts to climb up the rope, always expecting someone -- or something -- to lunge out of the darkness and pull him back down. He finally sticks his head out the hole, and grimaces when a flashlight is pointed at his face.

"Hey, stop it!" he says, squeezing his eyes shut and struggling to get through the passage.

"What happened?" says Leo, pulling him impatiently. "What took you so long? We were about to go after you!"

"I found them," he says, sitting on the ground.

"That's great!" says David. "Let's go get them and leave this hell hole!"

"We have to vanquish the warlocks, first," says Cole, "otherwise we still won't be able to switch back powers."

"Warlocks?" says Paige, arching her eyebrows. "Like in, more than one warlock?"

"Like in two warlocks," says Cole. "And three wolves."

"Should we use the same combat strategy that we used earlier with the wolves?" says David. "That worked pretty well. Nasty, but well."

"No," says Leo, "this time we're gonna need the Power of Three to cast the spell."

"The power of what?"

"Never mind," says Cole. "Piper and Phoebe are chained to the wall, side by side. You can orb Paige there so that they can read the spell, but we'll need a distraction."

"Describe the place and tell me where everybody stands," says Leo, sitting by his side. "I think I have an idea."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"That's not fair!" says Morgawse. "You're gonna get all the cool powers."

"I'm the oldest, Morgawse. Get over it."

"But I want the power to orb things around!"

"Actually, it works not only with things, but with people, too."

Morgawse and Argante spin around and watch as Leo enters the chamber, followed by Cole.

"I'm serious," Leo proceeds, "you can call out for someone and orb them straight to you. Kinda handy."

The two warlocks exchange a look, then Argante says, with a half smile:

"You've got some nerve."

One of the wolves gets up and growls at them. Cole waves his hand towards it and it freezes. Morgawse then waves her hand towards the wolf and it unfreezes. She glares at a very bewildered Cole and spits:

"Leave the kids alone."

Next thing he knows, he's flying across the room and falling heavily on the ground. The wolf starts to walk in his direction, and Leo forms an energy ball in his hand and says:

"Don't."

"Or else what?" says Argante, with a sneer. "You're going to throw this energy ball? And **_kill_** a living being? I don't think so, Whitelighter."

"Believe me, lady, it's been a long, long night," says Leo, with a humorless smile. "Besides, if you don't call your pet back right now, we have no deal."

"Deal?" she scorns. "Are you kidding me?" 

Instead of answering, Leo points the energy ball towards the wolf, that's now only a few steps from Cole, and Argante says:

"Freeze."

The wolf immediately stops, staring intensely at Cole, and Argante commands:

"Here."

It growls one last time towards Cole, then turns around and goes join his peers next to the two warlocks.

Cole stands up, rubbing a sore elbow, and goes stand by Leo's side again, muttering:

"Somehow the fact that you're finally learning to use this power freaks me out more than anything else I've seen today..."

"Why would we make a deal with you?" Argante asks, with a hint of impatience.

"Because you want the powers we have." says Cole.

"Right," says Morgawse, "that's why we're gonna kill you and take them."

"And waste precious time in a fight," he says, slowly walking away from the entrance of the chamber, "when we could voluntarily release them and give them to you."

"Not to mention the problem of killing someone who's already dead," says Leo, moving the same way, as nonchalantly as possible.

"Stop," says Argante, coldly, and the two men halt. "There were six of you: where are the other two?"

She has her back turned to Piper and Phoebe, but Morgawse is still turned half way in their direction.

"Paige didn't like this plan, and David would only come if she did."

"Smart girl," says Argante, addressing Leo a cruel smile as she makes a Darklighter's bow appear in her hand.

Morgawse is still very close to Piper and Phoebe, so Cole, deciding that desperate times require desperate measures, waves his hand towards the wolves and freezes them all. She immediately unfreezes them, then turns to him angrily, saying:

"All right, that's it!" -- she walks straight to him, her face morphing into a wolf.

Seizing the opportunity, Leo calls out:

"Spell time!"

Getting their hint, David and Paige orb in between Piper and Phoebe, and Paige shows her sisters the piece of paper containing the vanquishing spell. As soon as the girls start to chant, Argante and Morgawse howl in pain. Two of the wolves join their howling, but the white one turns around, looking for the source of the commotion, and runs towards the sisters. When it jumps on Phoebe, Leo throws an energy ball at it. As the girls say the last word of the spell and vanquish Argante and Morgawse, he hesitates for a brief second, then throws two more energy balls, killing the two remaining wolves.

Cole runs towards Phoebe and kneels by her side, holding her tight, despite of the chains. As Leo takes Piper's face in his hands and kisses her, Paige says, nested in David's arms:

"Is it over now, or should we expect any more surprises?"

"I think... uh, just a second." -- Leo raises his head, and the others are relieved to see a big smile spread on his face as the Elders give him the good news.

"It's over," he says, grinning. "Let's go home and undo this mess."

"Uh, Leo?..." -- Phoebe tucks on her chains, making then dingle.

"Right," he says, standing up, "let me take care of this."

He takes a few steps away from them and calls out, reaching out for Piper:

"Piper!"

Piper orbs out, leaving the empty chains hanging from the wall, and then in, right in her husband's arms. He kisses the tip of her nose, lets go off her and calls out:

"Phoebe!"

Phoebe giggles as she, too, is orbed to his arms.

"Nice trick." she says. She goes on tiptoes, kisses his cheek and goes join Cole, who has already stood up.

"Now, since they've been vanquished," says Leo, "I assume we'll have no trouble heading home."

He puts his arm around Piper's waist and says, smirking:

"Now, this is the last thing I thought I'd ever say: honey, can you please shimmer us home?"

"Sure," she says, giggling as she puts her arms around his neck.

"Great," says Paige, holding David, "then David can orb me and Phoebe can orb Cole."

"Orb," says Cole, grimacing, "right."

"Something the matter, baby?" Phoebe asks.

"Let's just say I'm gonna be really glad when we switch back powers, baby," he says, giving her a weak smile, "orbing is definitely not my thing."

"In that case," she says, smiling mischievously as she puts her arms around his waist and presses her body against his, "I'll do my best to make sure the experience isn't all that unpleasant..."


	12. This Power Is My Power

First, I'd like to say that writing this story has been the most wonderful experience, thanks to all of you who have been reviewing, chapter after chapter. But, guys, the story has to end at some point: if not for anything else, at least because the Charmed Ones and the men in their lives must be exhausted by now. In the name of compassion, I'll let them switch back powers and go to bed. After this chapter, there'll be an epilogue, and that's all for now. But I'll write a sequel, I promise: I just have to finish another story first.

As I've mentioned before, I'm writing a sequel to "Redemption", and I plan on posting the first chapter next week. Its title will -- hopefully -- be "The Demon's Advocate". So, if you haven't read "Redemption" yet, please go take a look at it if you intend to read "The Demon's Advocate". It had a spoiler warning by the time it was posted, but it doesn't go any further than "Long Live the Queen", so I guess most of you can safely read it by now.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew!" says Paige, as she and David orb in, landing on a pool of green goo.

"Uh, sorry," says David, embarrassed, while Piper and Leo laugh.

Just then, Phoebe and Cole orb in, still clung to each other, lost in a passionate kiss.

"Somehow I doubt he's gonna be sick this time..." mutters Paige.

"Ah-hem!" goes Piper, when Phoebe and Cole don't show any signs of breaking the kiss.

"Hum?..." -- Cole unwillingly pulls away from Phoebe and gives Piper an inquisitive look.

"Spell," she says, with a mocking smile, "switching back powers, rings a bell?"

"Uh, powers, right. Sure."

"So, Leo," says Paige, "what should we do?"

"We must stand in circle," says Leo, "as the three of you read this spell." -- he hands her a piece of paper containing the spell the Elders gave him earlier.

They form a circle then, and Piper, Phoebe and Paige start to chant:

_"Magic forces older than time,  
powers older than darkness or light,  
shall be released by this spell:  
go back to where you should dwell!"_

As soon as the girls start chanting, the skins of the six people in the living room start to glow. Once the last word is said, twelve colorful light beams come out of them and converge on the center of the circle. For a moment, they all watch, with great amazement, as a shining white cloud forms, its light so bright that it hurts the eyes.

"How beautiful." whispers Paige.

"It's so..." -- David hesitates, unable to find the right word.

"Powerful." says Piper.

"Real." says Phoebe.

"Peaceful." says Cole.

"Perfect." says Leo, smiling.

Then, just like white light splitting into rainbow colors, the powers start to break apart.

The powers to orb and shimmer are the first ones: three jets of light -- two of them blue and one orange -- rise from the center of the cloud, go almost up to the ceiling, then arch and go down, splashing over Leo, Paige and Cole. For a brief moment, they're bathed in light: as the colors start to fade, they exchange hesitant looks.

"Did you... did you feel it?" Cole asks, astonished.

Paige nods, with a smile full of wonder.

"I think our powers have just started to find their way back," says Leo, grinning.

The colors still haven't faded completely when two light beams dart from the center of the circle. One of them hits Leo right between the eyes, leaving a blue mask that covers his forehead and eyes. Another one, yellow, does the same to Phoebe. The others give them questioning looks and Phoebe says with a smile:

"Premonition, I think."

"And locating witches." says Leo.

A green cloud pops out of the main one, spins a couple of times, them splits in two and dashes towards Paige's hands.

"Seems like I can orb things again." she says, grinning.

Then a swirl of tiny indigo flocks rises from the center of the circle, splits in two and goes straight to Piper's hands.

"I'm back in business!" she says, glad to have her power to freeze again.

A violet wave rises and splashes on Phoebe, giving her back the power to levitate. Next, two blue clouds come out of what's left of the original one and run in circles for a while, as if playing with each other. Then Leo and Paige raise their hands and the healing powers go back to their owners.

The cloud is completely red now. The two remaining powers split apart and for a few moments the two flaming clouds dance back and forth across the circle, never touching, like two opponents measuring each other. Finally, Cole raises his hands and commands:

"Enough!"

Piper, too, raises her hands and says:

"Here!"

As the two powers stop their belligerent dance and dart towards their owner's hands, Cole and Piper can't help but exchange awkward smiles.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

While Paige walks David to the door, Piper summons the others to clean up the mess. Ostensively ignoring their pleads, she puts two buckets of water and detergent in the middle of the room and distributes mops between Phoebe, Cole and Leo. Then, as she starts rubbing a green stain on the floor, Piper gives the others a look that's more than enough to convince them to follow her example.

"I'll bet Paige is gonna dally out there until she's sure we're done in here..." Cole mutters under his breath.

"Don't be mean," says Phoebe, shoving his arm. "Didn't you see how anxious the poor thing was?"

"I have to admit," says Leo, grimacing and quickly dipping a mop covered with green goo in the bucket, "that David handled this whole thing pretty well, considering the circumstances."

"He probably doesn't know," says Cole, with a sly smile, "but he's dating the Halliwell with the most stable personality."

"Excuse me???" Piper and Phoebe both say at the same time.

Still rubbing a green stain on the wall, Cole addresses them a mocking smile as he says:

"Come on! You can't deny thay women in this family have the bad habit of turning into all kind of weird and -- what is worse -- deadly creatures..."

He starts enumerating:

"Banshees, Furies, warlocks..."

"Wendigos, Woogies..." says Leo, joining the fun.

"Wow, it's worse than I thought." says Cole, chuckling. "So, tell me, did they use to go after you before I was around? 'Cause it seems that lately I've become the main target."

Leo opens his mouth to make a witty remark, but thinks again when he notices the exchange of looks between Piper and Phoebe, and quickly turns his attention back to the clean-up.

"Well, I'd say," says Phoebe, with a voice so soft that Cole immediately perks up, sensing trouble, "that when it comes to finding out that the person you're dating isn't exactly the normal human being you thought he was, the women in this house have a little more experience than the men."

She and Piper watch, amused, the abashed look on the men's faces, as they suddenly become very interested in the clean-up. The two sisters are giggling as they go to the kitchen to get some more clean mops.

"We just can't learn to quit while we're ahead, can we?" says Cole, waving his head.

"One thing you need to learn about this house," says Leo, twisting the mop, "is that the guys are **_never_** ahead."

Cole is done with the stain on the wall and gives a disgusted look towards the blue pool at the doorway. He looks around and spots a green stain that looks considerably less repulsive, and decides that this is the one he's gonna clean. Before he starts, though, he stops, looks at Leo and asks:

"Should we warn David about it?"

The two men look at each other for a while, then they both say at the same time, smiling slyly:

"Nah!"


	13. Epilogue

Cole watches with sleepy eyes as the soft breeze coming through the window ruffles the curtains. Suddenly a gust of wind sends some of the papers resting on Phoebe's drawer to the floor and, without thinking, he waves his hand towards the swirling papers. They don't freeze -- for obvious reasons -- and he glances towards Phoebe, feeling utterly embarrassed: much to his relief, she's sound asleep and unaware of his lapse.

He chuckles slightly, and moves closer to her, passing his arm around her waist.

"You're some tough girl," he whispers.

_Bearing those premonitions, during all those years, not only seeing those horrible things happen, but for a moment actually living them, and knowing that you alone don't have the power to prevent them... I wonder if your family knows what a burden it can be; I know I didn't. Not until today._

He gently fondles her hair, and Phoebe smiles in her sleep and cuddles with him. Then his eyes fall on the sheets of paper scattered on the floor, and his thoughts are drawn once again to the events of this evening, and to the other power he had to learn how to use. Sure, at least freezing is an active power, but it doesn't actually solve things: it only buys you time to figure out what to do. Or -- more likely -- to have someone else take one step forward and save the day.

_When you think about it, it's no wonder Piper used to be so insecure. The girl spent her first years as a witch with a power that said "step aside and let someone more qualified take care of this". Not that it's an easy job: who would have thought that the darn thing had so many twists and bends? I could barely choose between freezing the entire room and one single target; Piper, on the other hand... I once saw her freeze only the innocents in a courtroom, leaving the evil doers untouched. Still, I doubt she'd give up the power to explode, now that she's mastered it. As for me, being the support team and letting someone else be in charge of the action is definitely not my style. Although I must admit that Leo did a pretty good job down there... Sure he needed some time to adjust but -- what the hell -- it took me years to fire a decent energy ball. Not that I'm **ever** gonna tell him this._

Cole smiles as he cuddles tighter with Phoebe and closes his eyes, feeling the steady rhythm of her breathing until he, too, falls asleep.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Piper is lying on her back, trying to decide whether she's thirsty enough to go downstairs to have a glass of water.

"Now, if only I could shimmer to the kitchen..." she thinks. "Just kidding!" she quickly adds, just in case someone is listening.

_No shimmering for this witch, no sir, thank you very much. Let Cole do the shimmering, since he seems to be so fond of it._

Piper giggles as she remembers Cole's awkward attempts to control her freezing power.

_That'll teach him. Still, I must admit he surprised me today: never thought he would be able to swallow his pride and give up his place at the front line. And following Leo to the warlock's lair, placing his life in someone else's hands... It must have cost him a lot. He did better than I'd have expected. Hum! Maybe I should tell him this. Oh, well, or maybe I'll just make him pancakes tomorrow morning._

I never thought I'd be so glad to get my powers back. Even my power to explode. Oh, God, the look on Paige's face when she exploded those cups!... That was priceless. I don't think she'll ever complain about not having a fighting power again. Much to her credit, she managed to get a grip on it much faster than I did. She's quite a witch, that baby sister of mine. She just doesn't know it yet.

She senses Leo's stare and turns her head to look at him, who's lying on his side and smiling at her.

"Having trouble sleeping?" he asks.

"I guess," she says, smiling back at him. "It was such an intense evening, I think I still have too much adrenaline in my system." -- she reaches out and touches his chest with feather-soft fingers -- "Care to help me spend it?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Paige orbs back to her room carrying a glass of milk and a plate with some cookies.

"When you're up to a midnight snack, there's nothing like being half Whitelighter," she thinks as she sits on her bed, with her legs crossed, placing the plate on the nightstand.

_Mental note: never complain about my powers again. That radar thing was cool, but it was giving me a headache. And God I hope I'll never have to explode anything in my life again! Thanks God for Piper._

It was so weird to see other people using my powers. Piper healing, and David orbing... well, seeing David using **any** powers would have been weird. Not as much as it was for him, I'm sure. I still can't believe he still wants to see me, after all this mess. He's one of a kind. And human on top of everything, thanks God for that! After all, the Whitelighter is already taken, and another repented demon... let's face it, what are the odds?

Leo was no surprise, of course. I mean, my telekinesis is the orbing kind, it was just fair that he got a grip on it fast. He even found out some interesting new features: orbing people around, who would have thought of that? I should try it one of these days... not with Cole, of course.

Paige giggles as she puts the empty glass next to the plate. She lies back on the bed and pulls the covers up to her chin, as the breeze blowing through the window becomes cooler.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Phoebe's eyes flick open and she wakes up with a shiver. She turns around and looks at Cole: once again, he has rolled to the other side of the bed, taking all the covers with him. Her covers. Luckily, she knows how to handle this: she moves closer to him and cuddles with him and, even in his sleep, he responds immediately by turning around to hold her, thus allowing her to slide under the covers with him.

_Now that's more like it. You don't really need all the covers, do you? Yet, I know this was some tough evening for you. My poor baby, enduring those premonitions..._

I'm glad you and Leo had to do some compulsory bonding in order to survive. I really wish you guys can grow closer to each other: it'll be good for you, to have a friend. I doubt demons have friends. And I couldn't think of anyone better than Leo, despite all the differences between the two of you. Besides, I think Leo, too, could use some male company in this house ruled by women. Until today, I had never really realized how draining being a Whitelighter could be. Sure, those powers triggered by love are very good, but they come with a price. Love comes with a price. You care, and you worry, and you feel responsible for those you love. Being a guardian angel takes more than one would have imagined.

Phoebe yawns and moves to a more comfortable position, feeling warm and safe in Cole's arms, sighing happily as she starts to feel pleasantly dozy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Leo changes position very carefully, just enough to look at Piper, whose head is resting on his chest. Watching her sleep, he is overwhelmed by the love he feels for her, the woman for whom he broke all the rules. And who so gracefully handled his power today, he adds to himself with a smile. He's proud to see how naturally she and Phoebe embraced the healing powers.

Then he remembers the sight of them chained to the wall of that awful cave, and he shudders slightly.

_I still can't believe I took part on that slaughter... only for you would I do something like that, love. And I hope I'll never have to go thru anything like that again. God, all the anger necessary to trigger that power!... One can only imagine what it must be like dealing with it every day, raising the anger, letting it run through you in fiery red waves. And then, after it's done, you have to hold all that rage back again... until next time. It's like going through life riding a dragon: it may sound exciting when you talk about it, but the truth is you can never release your grip on the rein, at the risk of being consumed by the flame that burns inside you._

Leo runs his hands through Piper's hair, pensively. He's staring at the ceiling, but right now his mind is directed to a place way above the attic.

_Cole has been doing that for... what? almost one year now. I should talk to the Elders about him. They never gave me much directions concerning Cole's situation, and so far I've been glad to leave the subject alone, but i guess it's time we stop pretending there's nothing going on here. The guy is struggling to stand on our side and, for what I've seen today, he could use some help._

Leo closes his eyes, feeling spent by the events of the evening.

"Tomorrow," he thinks, "I'm gonna start some research of my own."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

David turns off the water and steps out off the shower box. When he left the manor, all he could think was getting into bed and sleeping like ten hours in a row. But when he got home he was still so agitated that it took forty minutes of working out and a shower to get him ready to go to bed. He runs his hand through his thick brown hair, and stands in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at his own image. "What a night," he thinks, reaching out for the towel and starting to rub himself dry.

_Witches, demons, angels, warlock, monsters, wolves... And something tells me that I haven't seen the half of it yet. And the craziest thing is, I still wanna stick around. Even if it means facing a warlock or two every now and then. Man, I must be crazy. Even worse: I must be falling._

He puts on his boxers and walks to the bed, the events of the evening finally starting to weight on him.

"I'm afraid it's gonna take more than this to scare me away, Paige Matthews," he thinks, as he gets into bed, "I can't just let you slip away like this: you're one of a kind."

**The End  
(Next installment: "Roll the Dice, Run For Your Life")**


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Charmed, Adventure, Supernatural